I consider myself adventurous when it comes to food. Maybe not as adventurous as Brian Zimmerman on that show Bizarre Foods, but adventuresome enough. I mean, I lived in Japan for a year and ate plenty of things outside my comfort zone. I ate a shrimp that was still living and moving. Yep. I poked it with my chopsticks and that sucker started wiggling. Not one to offend my hosts, I ate it as quickly as I could (I don’t even remember if I chewed) and washed it down with a few gulps of beer. Just one of many food in Japan anecdotes (I’ve got tons).

So when Rachel suggested we try this Arugula, Watermelon, and Feta Salad that Liz posted over at Blog is the New Black I didn’t scoff, but I wasn’t exactly excited. For some reason I just had this mental block. Watermelon is for snacking, for dessert, or for drinks. Not a dinner salad. Right? Wrong. Way wrong. Way delicious.

We were really pleased with this sweet and savory Arugula, Watermelon, and Feta Salad. Whatever mental block I had was thoroughly demolished. Watermelon doesn’t have to be just a dessert. This is a perfect summer side dish, lunch, or snack!

As a quick side note, have you been enjoying the delicious pictures in the past few blog posts? We recently purchased a new camera, a Canon Powershot S95, to replace a 7 year old camera that died a slow, painful, pixelated death. We tried getting by using my Droid’s camera, but that just wasn’t cutting it. We are loving our upgrade!

Besides wanting to take nice food photography, we are new parents and want to take photos of Baby Boy every time he does something adorable; putting his foot in his mouth and sucking on his toes, giggling at silly Daddy faces, smiling at the hairy dog, sneezing aggressively, falling asleep with his little mouth wide open and drooling… you get the idea.

Anyway… We loved this salad and will be making it again soon. If you have a mental block about watermelon as a salad, like I did, give this recipe a shot. I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised. It’s light years tastier than eating a wiggling shrimp, take my word for it.

Recipe: Arugula, Watermelon, and Feta Salad

Ingredients

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup minced shallots

1 tablespoon honey

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

6 cups baby arugula

4 cups chilled watermelon cut in 1-inch cubes

12 ounces crumbled feta cheese

1 cup (4 ounces) fresh mint leaves, cut chiffonade style

Directions

After cutting watermelon, toss with salt.

Whisk together the lemon juice, shallots, honey. Slowly pour in the olive oil, whisking constantly, to form an emulsion.

Toss the arugula, watermelon, feta, and mint in a large bowl. Sprinkle with black pepper. Drizzle with vinaigrette to lightly coat the salad.